Exercise 1 Drawing the human figure

Transcription

1 Exercise 1 Drawing the human figure Set your model in a comfortable and relaxed pose, sitting or lying down. Make sure there is sufficient light on both the subject and your working surface. As you re concerned more with line than tone in this exercise the shadow cast by directional light is not a major concern. Everyone is different but, generally speaking, the head length is one-seventh of the full length of the standing figure. This means that when you re measuring to draw or paint, perhaps with your pencil held at arm s length, you can use the head as a way to measure proportions. Look at the shapes or outlines surrounding your figure that will help you to locate your figure in space: a chair back or arm, lines of folded fabric, cushions or the more distant outlines of furniture, walls and doorways. Use any drawing medium to mark out the principal shapes and outlines in your sketchbook. Keep measuring the figure and notice how foreshortening can make a thigh appear very short or how large the hands and feet appear if they are close to you. Make several sketches, working quite quickly each time and adjusting your measurements as you progress. Make light pencil marks initially; when you ve decided what looks right, you can start to make the marks stronger. Move around the figure trying out different angles. Don t forget to let your model rest Mark the model s position before each rest and at the end of the session. Once you ve completed several drawings, found an angle and viewpoint that pleases you and solved the problems of locating the figure in space, you re ready to begin painting. For this exercise I had already tried out some warm up sketches (see Sketchbook 3). I have always found some difficulty in drawing the human figure, particularly details of faces, hands and feet (more practice is required by me). However, I do feel that I have a reasonable grasp of the form of the human figure, the lines and angles, shapes and light/dark that go together to help shape the form. I used a live model, my wife, and produced 5 sketches in total, two indoors sitting on a chair and three outdoors, sitting on the same chair, and all from different angles of view. I started inside but found the light outside much better to help differentiate the light and dark aspects of the figure. Things I have noticed immediately about my drawing technique/skill is that I am heavy handed - very few light and suggestive lines here, more like a bold approach to the subject. I did start off with light marks, but probably too quickly reverted to my hard hand. I drew each sketch initially with a HB pencil and then worked with HB, 3B and 6B Faber- Castell PITT Graphite Pure 2900 pencils. The paper used is Winsor & Newton A3 170gsm sketch book paper. I did find that I started off fairly tentatively, but as I progressed my drawing became a bit freer in execution - although still some difficulties with the finer details. In the end, though, I think that I did achieve a sequence of sketches from which I can progress.

2 Pose 1 - angles, perspective, foreshortening and shadowing ok; hands and feet a bit wobbly and facial features very tentative. Overall, shapes of the figure s form seem to work for me.

3 Pose 2 - angles, perspective, foreshortening and shadowing ok; hands and feet a bit wobbly and facial features a bit weird - eyes too big, nose too short and mouth? Overall, shapes of the figure s form seem to work for me.

4 Pose 3 - angles, perspective, foreshortening and shadowing ok; hands and feet a wee bit better and facial features about right. Overall, shapes of the figure s form seem to work for me.

5 Pose 4 - angles, perspective, foreshortening and shadowing ok, but I think I made the chair legs too dumpy; hands and feet not too bad and facial features pretty intense - something about the chin isn t quite right. Overall, shapes of the figure s form seem to work for me - apart from the head, which seems a bit large for the other proportions of the body, unless it is because of my overly bold lines outlining the face - and dumpy looking chair legs?

6 Pose 5 - angles, perspective, foreshortening and shadowing ok; hands and feet getting there, although the foreshortened right foot over left leg is questionable; facial features are more of an accurate resemblance. Overall, shapes of the figure s form seem to work for me. Stuart Brownlee th March, 2014